Chocolate Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Submitted by Ruthlemiech
Sour cream coffee cake with a cinnamon-pecan ribbon and a chocolate glaze swirled through the middle. A holiday brunch standout with tender crumb and fudgy chocolate veins.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
60 minREADY
90 minThis coffee cake layers three things into one Bundt pan: a tender sour cream cake batter, a cinnamon-pecan streusel topping, and a chocolate glaze that gets swirled through the middle of the cake before baking. When sliced, you get visible ribbons of dark chocolate running through the pale crumb with crunchy pockets of cinnamon-sugared pecans.
The sour cream is doing two jobs. Its acidity reacts with the baking powder for extra lift, and its fat keeps the crumb tender for days. Combined with cake flour (which has less protein and produces less gluten than all-purpose), the texture lands somewhere between a pound cake and a true coffee cake: dense enough to hold up to the chocolate ribbon, soft enough to feel light on the fork.
The assembly is what makes this special. Half the batter, four tablespoons of streusel, and half a cup of warm chocolate glaze go in first, then the rest of the batter and the remaining streusel on top. The reserved glaze drizzles over the warm cake after unmolding.
Pro Tips
- Make sure the chocolate glaze is warm but not piping hot when drizzling between batter layers. Hot glaze will sink and pool at the bottom of the pan instead of forming a ribbon.
- Use cake flour, not all-purpose. The lower protein gives a more tender crumb that holds the ribbons better.
- Don’t overmix once the sour cream goes in. Fold gently so you don’t deflate the creamed butter-sugar base.
- Cool exactly 10 minutes in the pan before unmolding. Earlier and it falls apart; later and the streusel sticks to the bottom of the pan.
Variations
- Swap pecans for chopped walnuts or sliced almonds in the topping for a different nut profile.
- Add a half teaspoon of espresso powder to the chocolate glaze to deepen the chocolate flavor without adding coffee taste.
- Stir a quarter cup of mini chocolate chips into the batter for chocolate distributed throughout the crumb, not just in the ribbon.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃).
For cake, cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy.
Add eggs, beating until smooth.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Gradually add dry ingredients to creamed mixture, blending well.
Gently fold in sour cream and vanilla.
For topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl.
For glaze, melt butter and chocolate chips in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons topping in bottom of greased and floured 9 inch tube pan.
Spoon ½ of cake batter into pan.
Sprinkle 4 tablespoons topping over batter and drizzle ½ cup glaze over topping.
Spoon remaining batter into pan and sprinkle with remaining topping.
Reserve remaining glaze.
Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes in pan.
Turn onto serving plate.
Drizzle remaining glaze over top of warm cake.
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